Non-ethanol gas

I’ve never been a huge fan, but untill recently I didn’t seem to have a choice in the matter.

Last spring a gas station not that far from me swapped a single pair of pumps over to non-ethanol gas. It made sense, they’re the closest gas station to a fairly large marina on the local lake, plus we’re a fairly rural community with all sorts of odds and ends equipment that just runs better on non-ethanol gas. That pair of pumps was so popular that they couldn’t keep the tank full. Now the entire island is non-ethanol. Price wise its sits between 10 and 20 cents per gallon more than their regular gas.

I also recently discovered that there are at least two fairly major local gas station chains who have premium non-ethanol at every pump at every gas station. Now I’m not going to pay the price for premium, but when I can swing not to far out of my way to hit the gas station by the marina I’m doing so. I’ve seen an uptick in my miles per gallon too. Its hard to say an exact number, since I’m not ALWAYS able to get non-ethanol gas, and so there’s always a mix in my tank rather than pure non-ethanol, but my miles per gallon has been slowly inching upwards with each tank…..

7 Comments

The non-ethanol gas has a lot more btu’s than gas with ethanol. Quite often the price difference is offset by the better mileage. And if you have an older vehicle that isn’t designed to run on ethanol, it will save you a lot of headaches with ruined seals, hoses, etc.

In the winter it doesn’t hurt to have a little alcohol in the tank to prevent icing. If you run straight gas all the time, it is a good idea to add one of those little isopropyl de-icing bottles of alcohol before a big fill up.

2007 Dodge Caliber, so not older. Wish I’d had access when I was diving the 1991 Civic…..but yah, the better gas milage jas been nice. I just refuse to pay an extra 40cents per gallon for the premium non ethanol….

I know what you mean. I had a 94 Civic 2 door. It loved the premium. The acceleration was sweet and even with a lead foot, it still managed to get 35-40 mpg. I was so sad when it developed a serious case of iron moths and the rust in the mounting area for the windshield kept cracking windshields and letting water inside. We sold it to the next door neighbor who isn’t allergic to the moldy carpeting. It is still going, but only in the summer, mostly with the windows open. The neighbor lady also has a bad back so carrying a shovel along to dig it out when it high centers on snow piles isn’t really an option for her.

Timing belt went on mine, and I didn’t have the several grand to fix the engine. *sigh*. Sold it to the brother of a friend of Hubby’s, who did the work himself, and last we checked was still driving it. And yes, 35 around town, over 40 on the highway…..I miss that car.

Wish I had access to straight gas – especially for the bikes. The ethanol can really corrode those suckers (if we lived in CA and could ride everyday, it might not be such a big issue of corrosion). I could also do with better gas mileage in the car since I am driving over 100 miles a day for work – but sadly I don’t have the chance to see what good gas will do for me. The only two stations that I am aware of that have pure gas are about 70 miles away – boo!